- Prof. Dr. Matthias Pirlich is joining the Advisory Board of the mBCA science center whose other members are Prof. Dr. Dr. Anja Bosy-Westphal (Director of the Institute for Applied Nutritional Science and Dietetics at the University of Hohenheim) and Dr. Stephen Wootton (Associate Professor at the University of Southampton). Given his practical experience as chief physician in the internal medicine department at the Evangelical Elisabeth Klinik in Berlin and as General Secretary of the European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism (ESPEN), Professor Pirlich is recognized as a leading expert with a worldwide reputation in nutrition medicine.

Pirlich earned his medical degree at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) and his qualifications as a university lecturer in malnutrition and the significance of body composition at The Charité in Berlin. For more than seven years he was chief physician in the Department of Internal Medicine at the Evangelical Elisabeth Klinik before moving to the outpatient sector in 2017. A clinician and researcher, Pirlich has published more than 100 scientific papers and guidelines. Particularly in the clinical nutrition field, his work has appeared in national and international journals and in more than 25 book chapters. Since 2016 he has been the General Secretary of ESPEN. As a specialist in nutrition medicine, he understands the role of body composition in the course of disease and treatment. “Especially in oncology and in cases of chronic organ insufficiency, body composition is an important topic as malnutrition is one of the most frequent complications. In advanced stages of disease, up to 90 percent of all patients are affected,” said Pirlich. “Nevertheless, nutrition therapy is often initiated late because the standard of care does not always include screening or monitoring patients’ nutritional status.” A central reason, said Pirlich, is that medical practitioners are not aware of the high prevalence of malnutrition and the significance of good body composition over the course of disease. “The mBCA science center offers an outstanding opportunity to fill these knowledge gaps. With the platform’s international orientation, we can tell colleagues around the world more about body composition and discuss the subject with them.”

The first article by Pirlich – “Phase angle predicts mortality in liver cirrhosis“ – deals with the significance of the phase angle as an indicator of mortality risk in cases of malnutrition caused by liver cirrhosis. The phase angle is a parameter which can be measured with the help of the mBCA.

The mBCA science center: international information exchange on body compositionThe mBCA science center is intended for researchers, clinicians, practicing physicians and medical personnel from many specialties who are interested in the latest scientific findings and expert opinions on body composition. Despite the medical relevance of the subject, the medical community has had no standard textbooks and no platform where researchers and clinicians could obtain and share information. The objective is to close the gap and develop into the leading international platform on body composition by promoting discussion within the medical community. For this reason the language used in the mBCA science center is English. Every week the experts on the Advisory Board and highly respected guest authors from around the world will post comments and assess current studies and articles. Interested persons can pose questions to the Advisory Board, exchange information in the Comments section and gather information on research results under the heading "Studies & White Papers".